howl
by onceuponaplot
Summary: werewolf au / Steve doesn't understand why the adults are so tense those first few minutes, too young to really understand, but he scampers over with all the eagerness of a puppy when Sarah relaxes, looks back and waves him over. Their new neighbor shouts something into his own apartment and soon after two kids appear.
1. howl

_Originally posted in November 2014 as part of a 30 day writing challenge on Archive of Our Own._

* * *

For a long time, it's just Steve and his mother, and that's enough. Sometimes it gets a little lonely – a little quiet, when Sarah is still at work and Steve is home alone reading books and doodling in a worn out notebook – but Steve doesn't mind it. It's kind of nice, sometimes, when he's got a thousand things racing through his head and something fierce and restless itching under his skin, to be alone – to not have to worry about snapping at his ma or being crowded in on all sides on a crowded New York sidewalk.

The year he turns ten, his ma takes him out of the city one weekend to a sprawling forest in New Jersey for his birthday. There, Steve is free to run and play and do as he wishes, and the burning under his skin isn't so bad after, sits quiet and calm inside his chest when they return to the city Sunday night.

Two weeks later the Barneses move into the apartment down the hall and Steve's world shifts, because there's something wild inside them, too. Steve can tell as soon as they get home from the park, and the only thing that keeps him from racing up the stairs is Sarah's low, warning growl and her tight grip on his shoulders.

He trails behind her obediently, watches from the open door of their apartment as she knocks on the door and a tall, dark-haired man answers.

Steve doesn't understand why the adults are so tense those first few minutes, too young to really understand, but he scampers over with all the eagerness of a puppy when Sarah relaxes, looks back and waves him over. Their new neighbor shouts something into his own apartment and soon after two kids appear. The first is a girl a few years younger than Steve with big brown eyes who eyes him suspiciously from behind her father's legs. A boy appears shortly after and every hair on the back of Steve's neck stands up, alert.

The other boy looks to be about his age – maybe a little older – and like most other kids is bigger than Steve. But the smaller boy can't stop staring, only drags himself from the trance when the boy sticks a hand out at him.

"I'm James Buchanan Barnes. Who are you?" he asks with no preamble.

"Steve. Steve Rogers." Steve shakes his hand and James smiles so wide that Steve can see where two of his teeth have fallen out; small, sharp canines are peeking from his gums where they're just starting to grow in.

"You can call me Bucky. Do you like baseball?" Bucky asks, and it all falls together from there.

Bucky and Steve are fast friends, and soon it's not strange to see Bucky trailing Steve around or vice versa whenever the two of them are in the same vicinity. It's partially because they're two of the only kids their age in the apartment building, and it's partly because the wild thing inside Steve is calmer around Bucky, doesn't push at his self-control until he's vibrating with excess energy.

Sarah seems to find it amusing, the corners of her mouth always quirked up when she catches sight of Bucky and Steve tangled up in a pile listening to the radio after a bout of playful wrestling.

After that it's the six of them: Steve and Bucky and their families, and they make a tidy, friendly pack in the middle of New York.

Years later, when Steve tells Bucky the name of his unit, Bucky nearly laughs his goddamn ass off.

"Yeah, it's hilarious, Buck," he mutters, sure that Bucky'll hear him even over the chatter from the rest of the camp.

Bucky just keeps laughing, slaps Steve's shoulder once for good measure.

After a while, even Steve has to admit that there's a certain irony to him and Bucky leading a unit called the Howling Commandos, all things considered.

"You make one full moon joke and I _will_ shove you into the mud next time we're on patrol," Steve warns, puts a little growl into his words.

Bucky's eyes flash at the challenge and he cackles some more, canines bared in a wide grin. "I've always been faster than you. Just you try, Rogers. Just you try."


	2. scent

When he catches it on the roof, Steve puts it down to stress. It makes sense – Steve's home has been invaded, his territory threatened, and his brain is all jumbled from the clash of instincts that tell him to _chase_ and logic that keeps him from pursuing the attacker off the roof.

He can't shake the feeling though, as he fights his way out of SHIELD and gains an ally in Natasha at the hospital, that it's something more. The memory of the scent lingers in the back of his mind, cloying and indistinct, but so _familiar_ it makes his chest ache.

Steve reminds himself it's not possible and forces the thoughts and feelings away, buries them deep so they don't distract him from his new mission.

The bridge just makes it worse.

The scent hangs around the masked man like a cloud of smoke and as Steve fights him, the urge to _protect_ is so overwhelming Steve can barely keep from being pummeled into the ground.

It's luck that allows Steve to toss the man, mask flying away as he tumbles a few yards down the road and springs back onto his feet. He's got his shield up and is readying himself to throw it when the other man turns.

Bucky stares back at him, and it's all Steve can do not to fall to his knees in shock.

His hair is longer, his face worn and covered in stubble, but his eyes – his eyes are all Bucky.

Steve's shield slips from his lax fingers and clangs loudly as it hits the pavement by his feet. "Bucky?"

Even with the distance between them, Steve can make out the way Bucky's nostrils flare and the man goes still. His mouth opens slightly a few seconds later and his chest swells as he breathes in deeply. The stillness sets Steve on edge, draws his wolf even closer to the surface. It's already restless, has been howling and clawing at his chest ever since the Winter Soldier's – ever since _Bucky's_ smell wound around him again.

"Bucky," Steve calls and the other man twitches, narrows his eyes at Steve with a frown. "You know me."

His voice is harsh, rough, when he shouts back, "Who the hell is Bucky?"

Steve is tired. His whole body aches, he's sweaty and bleeding, and even from this far away the other man must be able to catch his scent.

He inches closer, step by slow step.

Bucky watches him.

"Bucky was my friend. Is my friend," Steve says in reply. He telegraphs his every move, lets Bucky know every steps he's about to take and keeps his hands in plain view at all times. Bucky lets him get a few yards away before he goes tense, takes his own careful steps back.

"I thought he was gone. But I was wrong. And I want-"

"Stop."

Bucky stares at him like Steve's some odd creature he's never seen before, head tilting to change his viewing angle as he circles Steve at a pace that feels like a crawl. Steve forces himself not to react when Bucky darts in fast, crowds close behind Steve and breathes in near the base of Steve's neck before he's gone again, a careful distance between them.

"You know me," Steve says again. His hands clench and unclench uselessly at his sides, his head turned just enough to see Bucky as he paces. "Bucky, please."

"I'm not-"

Bucky stops, hackles raising and lips pulling back in a snarl, and Steve turns in time to see Sam and Natasha back by his shield. Sam's got an arm around Natasha's waist to support her as she presses a hand to her injured shoulder. They both look as exhausted as Steve feels, and both are scanning the surrounding area for remaining attackers.

"We've got to go. It won't be long before agents get here," Natasha warns, eyes flicking quickly between Steve and the Soldier. "Now, Steve."

Bucky is still tense when Steve glances back at him, but he's no longer snarling, hi mouth pressed into a thin line.

Steve takes a chance.

"They're friends. Come with us," he offers. He holds his hand out to Bucky, palm up, and hopes.

Bucky doesn't respond right away. Doesn't even move. Just stares at Steve with untrusting eyes and looks back at Sam and Natasha. Anxious and desperate, a low whine escapes Steve's chest before he can stop it.

Instantly, Bucky's entire focus is on him again.

His question, when it comes, is quiet, almost scared. "I know you?"

Steve could almost laugh. "Yes," he promises. "Yes, you know me. Come with us and I can prove it to you. Please."

Still uncertain, "You're my mission."

"I'm your friend."

He watches as Bucky mulls that over, rolling the words over and over in his head with something like disbelief etched over all his features.

Steve can't put his relief into words when the other man finally nods.


End file.
